Blood of the Slayer
by Tora-chan3
Summary: If you liked reading Blood and Tiger Bones this is season two. The Blade Breakers have the Saint Shields on their backs. Will they be after the Dragon Slayers too or are they safe? I have permission to use RJ and her bit beast!
1. And You Thought That Was the End

Tora-chan: Please, don't sue me! I have no money and no life! I don't own Beyblade...I don't own RJ and her bit beast...and I don't even own this computer! It's my dads'! I do own Hakaru, Yusuki, Cail, Calvin and Tyler so if you want to use them for something, all you need to do is ask, otherwise it's plagiarism ==  
  
Chapter 1: And you Thought That was The End  
  
It's been a year now since we've seen the Dragon Slayers. In fact...it's been a year since all of us came together. One year ago, Kai, Tyson, Max, Rei and I left Hakaru and her fiancé Yusuki to return to our respective homes and get on with life. We were the Blade Breakers back then and the best Beybladers in the world! Still are, I might add.  
Anyhow, Kai went off on his own to Russia and we haven't heard from him since. Just like Kai to go off on his own without dropping me an e- mail! Oh well. Rei and RJ, or Raieka, are having a great time in China teaching the younger kids in the village to Beyblade. The White Tigers are happy to have them both back now, and I can't blame them. The two of them have been gone long enough.  
Max went over to the USA to live with his mom. I don't know if his dad and his mom are divorced or just living apart for work. Anyhow, he's working with his mother to design and make Beyblades. Lucky him! He gets to be around all the big computers and the lab equipment and I'm stuck on a low paying allowance! Never mind. Hakaru and Yusuki are both in China. Every few months they run down to visit Rei and RJ to borrow their computer. It's a six-day hike there and back, so I'm surprised they do this as often as they do! Anyhow, they've seemed to warm up to the thought of letting Yaoh Ikishi teach them and that should be a good thing for the village and for Yaoh. Calvin's been working all year to help pay the mortgage on his house. He dropped out of school when he was in the seventh grade to help his mom make enough money for them both to live on. Anyway, he went up with Cail to China to train with Hakaru and Yusuki, who has been accepted as an honorary member of the Dragon Slayers. Speaking of Cail, who also dropped out of school to work part time jobs to keep enough money to live with his great-grandfather, he has a friend who works with airplanes and owns a few. So his friend got Cail and Calvin both up to China for free! He's been training non-stop with Calvin, Hakaru and Yusuki. Tyler's been at school most of the year, but managed to get out two months early to get to China. Calvin's not been too happy that their third member's missed some training, but Tyler says that he's been working all year with his Beyblade. Tyson's been at school too...although he's been late for every single class. No to mention this girl in our homeroom's been giving him grief. Her name's Hillary and Tyson thinks she's a royal pain. They fight just like Kai and Tyson use to when they first met! And me? Well, I've been looking over past documents of our old battles. I think it's about time to send out an e-mail to Rei, RJ, Hakaru and Yusuki to let them know that they should head over to Japan. The new World Series has been talked about lately. It's not going to be for at least another month, but I happen to know, thanks to Mr. Dickinson, that they're gonna have the tournament here in Japan! People around the world are already getting together and making teams. I haven't told Tyson though. The last thing he needs is to get over excited.  
  
"Are you done, Chief? You've been looking off into space for an hour already. Snap to it!" Dizzy said snidely.  
  
"Sorry, Dizzy. Just thinking about the tournament."  
  
"I knew it. Being around Tyson is bad for your health. Soon you'll be loud and obnoxious too." The bit beast said.  
  
"Come on now, Dizzy. Tyson's a little rough around the edges, but he means well. Now help me send this e-mail to the others. They need to get here soon so that we can start training together for the World Series."  
  
"Alright, but I still think it's too soon."  
  
As soon as the e-mail was sent off to everyone overseas Kenny packed up his laptop and hurried out of the house.  
  
"Tyson's got to be over at the recreation center by now. He's supposed to be announcing the winner of the junior tournament in an hour.  
  
"You know, Chief, Tyson's only Tyson if he's five minutes late."  
  
"He can't afford to be, Dizzy!" The boy trotted down the street. Somehow he knew that his bit beast was right.  
  
The wind rushed through her hair as she darted and weaved between the trees of the unmarked trail. Hakaru and Yusuki were making another long journey to Rei's village on the other side of the mountain. The two, for training, had decided to use an unmarked trail through the woods and over rivers to get there. This way they would get more out of the run. Each day they would run all out using their uncanny speed to run for hours through the dense wood. It felt like flying, their feet barely touching the ground as they went. Cail, Tyler and Calvin were practicing back in their village while they were gone for six days.  
  
"Yusuki, we're almost there. Let's rest." Hakaru had to shout over the rushing wind that whipped her voice away as she ran.  
  
The redhead nodded and the two slowed to a halt.  
  
"We shouldn't rest too long. We need to be back soon and besides...there won't be too much time to get back home."  
  
Hakaru nodded. Despite her having somewhere to live, she still considered herself a hobo.  
  
"So...think Kenny'll have some mail for us today?"  
  
"I dunno. He better have." Yusuki hated to think that they had wasted six days for nothing.  
  
"Alright, I'm ready to get back on the road." The blonde whipped the sweat from her brow and the two of them took off again. Through the trees they went. Speed was of the essence here. They needed to get back to the village as soon as possible.  
  
Coming out of the trees in mid stride the two ran down to the path and into the town where RJ and Rei lived.  
  
Li was outside his house when Hakaru and Yusuki ran by. Upon seeing their friend, the two stopped.  
  
"Hi Li"  
  
"Hi, You here to steal our computer again?"  
  
"Yeah"  
  
"Okay, but Rei and Raieka are using it right now, so you'll need to wait."  
  
The two left Li and went to the small shack outside the post office.  
  
"Hi."  
  
"Oh, you're here." RJ muttered.  
  
"Hi you two" Rei said without turning around.  
  
"Kenny sent any mail yet?"  
  
"Yeah, I'm looking over the message now."  
  
"It's for all of us?" Yusuki looked over Rei's shoulder and scanned the letter.  
  
"Yeah, He says we need to get to Japan as soon as possible."  
  
"Japan? How are we gonna get all the way over there? We don't have cash."  
  
"He says to try to get there in three weeks. We have three weeks then to get a ride." Rei sighed.  
  
"Alright, Hakaru, we've got to get back to the village TODAY!" Yusuki turned to his fiancé.  
  
"I don't know if we can push ourselves that far." The girl sounded a little scared.  
  
"Come on, kitty-cat, get over yourself." RJ muttered.  
  
"Right, let's go."  
  
Yusuki and Hakaru ran like they had a monster on their tails. (And yes they really do have tails. I went to Anime North as Hakaru and I had to sew a tail to my pants ). Through the trees and the thin woods, over the small streams and rivers, up rock ledges and through tall-grassy valleys they went to get back to the village.  
  
Max was walking down the streets of downtown. His mom had told him to take the day off from working with her and so he had decided to wander the streets in search for some street Beyblading.  
  
"Hey. Are you Max? You know from the Blade Breakers?"  
  
The blonde turned around to find a kid, he couldn't tell off hand if the person was a boy or girl, standing behind him. The person, who Max had decided was female, was wearing a cloak that covered most of her head in its hood. She looked more like a traveler and Max wondered how she knew Japanese. He was in America after all.  
  
"Uh...yeah I'm Max."  
  
"That's good. I've been looking for you. I challenge you to a Beyblade match."  
  
"Uh, okay." This was what he'd been looking for, right? But something didn't smell right.  
  
"Come with me then." The girl led Max up to an old warehouse where a dish had been set up most likely by street kids.  
  
"You ready? You did bring your beyblade with you, right?"  
  
"Yeah, I bring my Dracile everywhere." Max said.  
  
"Good, then let's get this over with. 3...2...1...LET IT RIP!"  
  
The girls' aqua colored blade shot from its launcher and into the dish. Max's green blade followed it and the match was on. 


	2. Email From the Max

Chapter 2: E-Mail From the Max

Kenny found a place to stand in the crowd of children. It was packed in the recreation center's big room. Kenny recognized a few kids from their class, but it was like every average Joe and his brother had shown up. Tyson, of course wasn't there yet. Pulling out his laptop, the Chief decided to get a few shots of the match that was taking place. None of these kids had bit beasts, but that didn't mean that they weren't any good. There was one kid in a cloak that was a particularly good Beyblader. Most of his victories seemed to be quick. Sadly enough, Kenny had chosen the wrong place to analyze his matches. The room had been set up so that there were three Bey-stadiums. Two kids would battle and whoever lost was out of the tournament while the winner stayed at the stadium he or she was at until they ether lost or there was no one left to challenge. In which case, someone would walk over from another dish and challenge someone else. The winner would have to challenge the person who was at the last dish. The victor, of course, challenging Tyson to a just-for-fun-and-bragging-rights match.

"Dizzy, wanna help me out with this. I'm trying to get some data on these kids."

"Ooh! Let's get that kid in the cape's match! He looks good." The bit beast begged.

"We're too far away, Dizzy"

"Well, why don't we move then?"

"Nice try, but I don't think moving is an option in here. It's too packed." And the only person that isn't here is Tyson. Kenny thought.

"Face it, Chief, the day Tyson's early is the day that hell freezes over."

"Oh, very good, Dizzy." Kenny muttered sarcastically.

"Dracile!"

Max's beyblade swerved to the side of the dish, just managing to escape the sharp Beyblade that was always, it seemed, on the offensive. The girl said nothing, and as the match wore on it appeared that she had complete control of her blade.

"Okay, Dracile, ATTACK!"

His blade shot off after the aqua Beyblade and slammed it up against the wall of the dish.

"You're pretty good, Max."

"You're really good too. But this is going to have to end sooner or later."

"That's really funny cause I was about to say the exact same thing! Attack!"

The aqua Beyblade came out of nowhere and shredded the curve of the dish on the turn. Slamming into Dracile the blade took out the acceleration on its opponent. Max's attack ring snapped sending his blade out of the dish and ending the match.

"W-what? Why'd I loose?" The blonde scooped up the broken shards of his attack ring and the rest of the Beyblade.

"Huh, you're the world champs huh? That seemed a lot easier then it should've been." The girl retrieved her blade and turned her back on Max.

"H-hey! Who are you? Why'd you challenge me anyhow?"

"Why do you think?" Without another word the girl was gone.

"Oh, man, I guess I better get my blade back to the lab. Hope Mom can fix it this time."

"Tyson! Quit complaining! You come late you stay late! You have to clean the classroom." Hillary was red in the face from yelling at Tyson. This kid was impossible!

"Please! Hillary, let me go just this once! It's real important!" Tyson begged.

"No, Tyson! You were late today, you were late yesterday, and you were late everyday before that! So now, you get to clean the class."

It was true. He had been late. And so what? He was human, after all.

Man, what I wouldn't give to be back wondering the globe with the Blade Breakers. Tyson sighed inwardly. He was even ready to put up with Kai's cold shoulder and RJ's punches that was how desperate he was! Even Hakaru's stupid aloofness and lack of common sense seemed to be bearable about now.

Hold up! Tyson thought. Maybe there was something to learn from hanging around with a hotheaded loner and a kid who couldn't count past twenty. Leaning over, the boy clutched his gut and moaned.

"Agh! H-help m-me!" Deciding to add on the dramatics, Tyson dropped to the floor and moaned louder.

"Oh, nock it off! Tyson I mean it! Tyson? T-Tyson?" Hillary really didn't want him to be hurt. What if he was dying?

"S-sensei! SENSEI!"

Tora-chan: Hope I spelt that right.

LOTSHA: yes tora-chan you did

Hillary was out of the room looking for their teacher within seconds.

"Huh, I guess being around reckless weirdoes with whiskers and ever-shifting tempers teaches you stuff after all." Oh well. Now to make his escape. This was so great!

"Come on, Hakaru! We have to get there today!" Yusuki was pushing her way out of what she was use to.

"Yusuki! We've already made great time for today. Please, let us rest."

I can't. He thought. "No, Hakaru. We MUST get to the village. If you need to rest, I carry you." Stopping dead in his tracks, the girl could see he was heaving. Yusuki was tried. He had never run this far for this long. Instead of getting on his back, she kept going. There was no way Hakaru was going to put him through more then he could handle.

Sighing, Yusuki went after her at his reckless breakneck speed. There was no way they could keep this up. For one thing they were going uphill, second they were running on empty for energy. If only they could come over the next ridge and see the village from here...yeah...if only.

"Oh, shit! I'm gonna be late!" Tyson was running faster then he thought he could. The Chief was gonna KILL him for sure!

"Please, let me get there in time!" Trotting through the doors of the Recreation center, Tyson had just made it...just. As he entered the huge room filled with kids of all ages, the crowd started cheering.

"Thanks, thank you! Thank you! Man, all these kids are here just to see me?"

"Well, looks like he just made it." Kenny sighed.

"Good thing too. I was about to shut down." Awarding the trophy to the kid in the cloak, Tyson smiled and shook the kids' hand.

"And now! The winner gets to have a battle with Tyson, of the Blade Breakers."

The crowd went wild with shouting, cheering and clapping.

"Wow, they're really overdoing it." Kenny said.

"How come, Chief? We are the world champions." Dizzy reminded.

"I know, but this'll go straight to Tyson's head, I just know it!"

"Rei! Come quick! There's some strange kid outside the village! He says he wants to have a match with you!"

Rei looked up to see a little boy running up the dirt road after him and Raieka. The boy looked upset like he was afraid of something. Rei and RJ stopped and waited for the kid to catch up to them.

"What's wrong?"

"There's a kid just a bit younger then you outside the village, Rei! We were Beybladeing and he came up and took our blades from us. He said that he wants to have a match with you."

"What's his name?"

"He didn't say." The little boy had tears in his eyes. "He took my Beyblade."

The boy's name was Shiin and he was only six. Shiin had always been sensitive and really thin-skinned if you will. He was saddened easy, and Rei could tell he was upset.

"Show me where he is."

"You want me to beat him up?" Raieka asked.

"No. He wants a battle, he'd got it."

"But he took their blades. This kids a bully, and I'd like to give him a nice White Tiger beating." The girl cracked her knuckles dangerously and Rei knew that she meant it. No one got away with picking on six-year-olds like that in RJ's books, no one.

"Not right away. If he's broken any of them or refuses to give them back, he's all yours. Just not right away."

Sighing, RJ seemed satisfied with this and let it drop.

Stepping up to the dish, Tyson loaded his blade into his launcher.

"On 3...2...1...LET IT RIP!"

Dragoon circled the dish before attacking the black beyblade that had landed square in the center.

"That's the way, Dragoon! Give it to him!"

The boy in the cloak said nothing. He just watched Tyson. Dragoon was bashing the other blade but it held strong and took each hit with grace.

Tyson hadn't noticed a thing, and maybe if he had it would've made a difference.

"Alright, Dragoon, attack!"

But there was nothing. Dragoon didn't come.

"W-what's going on?" Tyson was staring hard at his blade as if at any moment Dragoon would come forth. And in that moment of weakness, the black beyblade attacked. Tyson's beyblade flew out of the dish and the game was done. Everyone in the crowd was silent and then the cheers wet up.

"I-I lost?"

"That's him, Rei. That's the kid that took our blades."

The boy was short, at least...Rei guest it was a boy. He was wearing a long cloak that covered most of his face, so it was hard to tell. How was this runt just a bit younger then him? He was shorter then Kevin for Pete's sake! Not much shorter, but shorter nonetheless.

Shiin was still weeping a bit, but now he tried to look tough in the face of the bully. Other kids were standing around the dish. They had been waiting for Rei to show up.

"So, you're the creep that took their beyblades?" Rei wanted to be sure, false accusations could hurt, he knew all about that.

"Yeah I wanted to be sure you'd come."

"You better not have broken any of them." Rei said coldly as RJ stepped forward a bit. She had a very dangerous look in her eyes and the kid in the cloak backed away a little.

"Relax. None of them are busted." The boy handed them over to their rightful owners.

"You didn't have to take their blades. I would've come to battle you anyway." Rei said.

"I couldn't take that chance."

"You're a real piece of work, you know that." RJ said sarcastically.

The boy didn't say anything. He looked totally frightened of RJ...and he had good reason.

"So...you went through all that trouble to get me here. You wanna play or not?" Rei was at the end of his tolerance.

"Right."

"3...2...1...LET IT RIP!"

The two beyblades shot off to a rough start. Rei nearly hit his opponent but missed his mark. The boy's beyblade just missed the turn and almost landed outside the dish. RJ was very ready to beat the challenger up, but she stood back and let Rei handle the fight.

Now the fight seemed to be going well. Rei had managed to get back in the game and hit his opponent hard twice, but the other blade was still holding its pace. Then, right when Driger was about to strike down the light green beyblade, the unthinkable happened.

Sweat rolled down the faces of both Yusuki and Hakaru. They had collapsed on the grassy hill a day and a half away from their home. Heaving, they lay there, gasping for breath. Nether could move an inch as the grass waved around them.

"Y-Yusuki...do we h-have to run any...further?"

"No. No." The boy lay on his back, trying to think, but soon he was aware of the fact that Hakaru was out cold. Soon, his world too, was swarmed with darkness.

Rei didn't have timed to breath. There was something that flashed past his face, and he knew instantly it was his beyblade.

The kid grabbed his own beyblade and took off before RJ could get him.

"Want me to go after him?"

Rei was too stunned to say anything. He had lost. Turning on his heel, he marched back to the village. He was going to the computer in town...he was going to e-mail the Chief.

Kenny was back at his house when he got back on line. Checking over the basic news of the city and the tournament that was pending.

"Oh, Kenny, you have mail." Dizzy chirped as the boy opened his e-mail account.

"Huh...it's from Max."

"Well...let's hear it."

"Dear Kenny.

I've e-mailed you to warn you. The other day this beyblader came and challenged me to a match..."

Kenny read over the letter aloud and Dizzy listened quietly as he did.

"Just like Tyson. He was beat by a kid in a cloak too."

"Um...Chief...you have mail from Rei."

The news was the same and almost as hard to swallow.

"Then all three of the Blade Breakers were beat by a team of kids in cloaks."

"That leaves only one of us."

"Kai."


	3. Do you Trust Me?

Chapter 3: Do You Trust Me?

Yusuki shook Hakaru awake. They were so stupid! Falling asleep near nighttime in the wide-open plains! That was dangerous, not to mention reckless!

"Get up. We have to run."

"There's still a day and a half between us."

"Then let's run a day and a half."

Shooting off up the hill, the two made tracks as they headed over the rough Chinese terrain. There were few breaks, and only enough time to rest and eat a few mouthfuls of bread. Although, both teenagers were use to going hungry and equally use to running on an empty stomach.

"How far do you think we have left?" Yusuki asked.

"Less then a full day, I'd say." Hakaru panted. She was tired and they had slept most of the day away as it was. Still, time was of the essence here.

Tyson was cleaning the classroom. He could have seen this coming, but Hillary had clued into his little escape plan after he had left to the kid's tournament. And, sure enough, she did get her revenge.

"You missed a spot." She cruelly pointed out.

Tyson snarled under his breath at he scrubbed the windows clean. This was so humiliating. He should be outside working on summoning Dragoon! That's right, he thought, Dragoon didn't come. Why? Why not?

"Tyson! Quit staring off and get back to work!"

Damn her anyway.

The arrival into the city that night was spent collapsing on the ground. Hakaru and Yusuki had nothing left to give. With no more energy, they lay heaving in the dirt.

"Yo. You guys gonna lay around all night or are you gonna come and train?" Cail teased as he walked up to them.

"S-shut up, you ass." Yusuki snarled.

"There's a t-tournament c-coming. W-we have GOT to get to J-Japan." Hakaru panted heavily.

"W-what?! Japan? That's so far from here!"

"How long do we got?" Calvin walked out of the dark night. His poor grammar should have been corrected, but none of them cared.

"Three weeks." Yusuki sighed. The two got weakly to their feet.

"Then we start training tomorrow at dawn." Calvin said as he turned his back on them and walked calmly off.

It was midnight when Hakaru and Yusuki had finally gotten to eat and had rested enough to be able to feel their leg muscles. They sat out on the rooftop of their house, waiting to call it a night.

"Yusuki, I...I'm going to head off to Japan now."

The boy looked at her heavily. "Why? Hakaru, we should be going together!"

"I know, but I need to get to Japan. It would be better if one of us goes ahead. Calvin, Cail and Tyler can hitch a ride to Japan in Cail's friend's plane. If I stay with you then I'll only slow you down. You have better endurance then I do."

"So how are you going to get there?"

"I'll hitchhike. I've been doing it for a long time."

Yusuki chewed his lip. "You're going to hook up with Kai, right?"

"Yeah. I need to talk to him about the tournament."

Yusuki stifled a snarl. He hated that guy. It had more to do with the fight they had a year ago. Man that stuff got under his skin.

"I guess I can't stop you from going. Just promise me one thing, kay?"

"Yeah?"

"You promise that you'll be safe."

"Kay." The boy kissed his fiancé and then she was gone. Running off into the night, Hakaru disappeared into the darkness.

"Be safe." The redhead muttered and he went inside.

The school day was over, and Tyson left as soon as he could. He was gonna find that cloaked creep and beat him! There was no way this kid was going to make HIM look bad! Of course he had skipped out on his detention with Hillary...but who really cared anyway? This was far more important then cleaning windows and washing the bloody chalkboard for the hundredth time.

Trotting up and down streets was something he thought he'd not have to do, but it seemed necessary. The kid was as illusive as a breeze on a hot summer's day. Damn him for this. Tyson was determined to find him and that was the end of that!

"KENNY!" Hillary cornered the Chief in the hallway as he was trying to get home.

"Yeah?"

"Where's Tyson?"

"Uh...I don't know. I haven't seen him since class ended."

"You don't need to cover for him Kenny. I know you know where he is!" The girl had a look of death in her eyes. In fact, it was a look he had been use to seeing. RJ, Kai and Hakaru were very good at that look and he had seen it shot at others and at himself.

Creepy, it was as if he closed his eyes he would be back in a packed arena, crowd cheering, the smell of popcorn in the air, it would be Max's turn to battle and the match would be tied up one to one.

Tyson would be hollering encouragements. Rei would be sitting on the team bench; calmly adding his own words to help Max along.

Kai would be at the end of the bench, not even looking at the match. He and Dizzy would be analyzing the match-

"Kenny!"

The Chief jumped and realized he was not in a stadium. There was no crowd except the trickle of school kids walking out of the building. Rei and Max were in countries far away and no one knew where Kai was. Tyson...where was he anyway?

"Kenny! For the last time, I know you know where Tyson is!"

"No, seriously, I don't. I haven't seen him since the bell. Listen, I need to go home. I have some work I need to do."

The girl sighed, so much for this. "Alright, have a good night then." Walking away, she let the Chief off the hook.

"She WHAT?!" Tyler blurted.

"Hakaru's gone back to Japan. She figured that it would be better if one of us went on ahead." Yusuki said calmly.

"Great! Now what"

"Man, you're over reacting. Hakaru's not that dumb...well, she is, but I think we should trust her on this one. She's never let the team down before."

"Yeah, but what about that time she started the brawl on national television? Was she thinking about the good of the team then?" Tyler snapped.

"Let it go, Tyler. Hakaru and Yusuki have been training all year so they're good for some down time. It's us who needs the training."

Sighing, the boy nodded. Calvin was right. There was no use yelling about it, right? Hakaru had already left and there was no way of catching up with her now.

The day's training sessions were followed as normal without the blonde. Calvin, although fun loving and rowdy around the campfire and up for a good laugh anywhere else, took a far more serious side when it came to beybladeing.

"Tyler, you have a match with Yusuki, Cail, I need you to come with me."

Nodding, the boy trotted after the team captain.

"So, what's up?"

"Please try to take this seriously. I need you to get a hold of your friend with the plane. We're going to head back a week before the tournament."

"A week?"

"Yeah, in the mean time we need to make sure that we train as hard as possible. Please, could you try not to rile Tyler?"

"Yeah, yeah, can't promise anything, but what the hell." Cail shrugged it off and walked back to the two boys who were in the middle of a match.

"Are you almost done?" Dizzy whined.

"Yeah, I think I'm gonna throw in the towel soon."

"Are you sure you can't find out what was wrong with Tyson's blade?"

"It's not Tyson's blade I'm trying to figure out. I've been working on his opponents'."

"Oh, that thing?"

"Yeah...that thing."

"Why didn't you say so? It has an invisible bit beast." Dizzy said casually.

"IT WHAT?"

Hakaru had forced herself to run hard all night long. Collapsing on the earth, she sighed. Five minutes was all she would allow herself. She HAD to get to Japan. There was a boat that would leave off the coast every day and arrive at the Japanese port.

"Are you alright, miss?" A young girl with a cart asked. Her brown splotchy ears poked out of her matted white hair. The yellowy eye looked down on the cat person.

"Yeah, just tired." Hakaru muttered.

"Do you need a ride to the coast?"

The girl snapped up. "Yes!" Hakaru was up in an instant forgetting how tired she was.

"Alright then, get on. We'll be there by tomorrow morning. Hop on."

The blonde was on the cart and away before anyone could say a word. Soon, she found herself asleep as the wooden farm cart clattered down the mountainside.


	4. If There's no 'Kai' in Team

Chapter 4: If There's no 'Kai' in Team

"Have you seen the new boy?"

"Yeah, he's Kai from the Blade Breakers."

"You gotta be kidding."

"No, I'm serious!"

"Shhh! Here he comes now."

The door slid open and Kai walked to his desk by the window. Slumping down into the chair, he looked out the window.

"I told you!" The boy named Wyatt whispered. "He IS Kai."

"What do you want?"

Wyatt jumped out of his skin. As he turned to look over at the boy he saw that Kai was looking right at him. The cold ice in his eyes was frosty and it made the boy shiver.

"If you don't have anything to say to me then don't call my name." Kai turned back to the window and glared out it.

"Way ta go, Wyatt!" One of the boys slapped him on the back.

"Yeah, looks like you just pissed off your hero-!" The other kid was cut short in mid sentence as he was dragged off his feet by the collar of his shirt.

"Having fun, you two?" Kai let his frozen eyes glare down Wyatt's mockers.

"Uh...I... we--uh...It was all in fun, man." The boy Kai had lifted off the ground stuttered.

"Yeah, dude. It was just a joke." His friend tried to help.

Turning his hatred-filled stare to the other, Kai shoved the boy he was holding to the ground and walked over.

"My name is not 'dude' and it never will be." Turning away from the kid he headed back for his seat.

"Oh, and one last thing"

The two bullies stiffened again.

"Leave that kid alone, or I'll be forced to get involved." Slumping down into his chair again, Kai looked out the window as though nothing had happened.

"Leave that kid alone, or I'll be forced to get involved."

Wyatt replayed the words in his head.

Cool.

Kai was just so cool!

"Here we are, miss. This is the port that'll take you to Japan."

The lady let Hakaru off the cart and the girl rummaged through her pockets. Pulling out her beyblade she realized she had nothing to give the person who had helped her.

"Oh! You have a beyblade?" The young lady said with stars in her eyes.

"Uh, yeah why?"

Pulling out her own green beyblade she showed it to Hakaru. "See? See? I have one two. My mother gave it to me when I was small. Hey! You wanna have a match?"

"Sure." Why not? This could be fun, right?

"Tell you what, if you win, then I'll let you have that ride on the house, and if I win you have to pay up for the trip, sound good?"

Hakaru thought about this. Ah, why not? "Sure. Sounds like fun."

"Oh it will be!" The girl assured.

Deciding to battle right there in the street, the two loaded their launchers and counted down.

"3...2...1...LET IT RIP!"

A small group of kids gathered around to watch. They cheered as the blades slammed up against one another.

"Nice, but I got somewhere to be. DRIGER! Tiger claws attack!"

The blue light shot forth and the lady had to shield her eyes as the white tiger burst out of the blade and slashed its claws at the opposing beyblade.

"Nice kitty, you got there."

"Driger is no house cat!" Hakaru sneered.

"True, but nether is Pathrin!" An orange glow shot out of the beyblade and a black panther leaped out and snapped at Driger. The tips of the pointed ears were covered with metal studs. Each paw had three metal rings around the ankle. There was a spiked caller around the beasts' neck and a few on its tail.

The crowd gasped as the two cats swung their claws at one another.

"This is so cool!"

"Who are you rooting for?"

"The one with the tiger"

"Are you kidding? The girl with the panther is gonna win!"

People babbled on as the match drove the two girls to their limit.

"Driger, SIDE SWIPE ATTACK!"

"Pathrin, CRUSHING FANGS ATTACK!"

Driger swerved out of the way as the panther tried to get close enough to sink his fangs into the white tiger's forepaw. Getting in close Driger flashed past the other blade, and, in a brief moment, used its dewclaw (A small, but sharp claw on the side of the forepaws. Used to trip up prey est.) To slash Pathrin's unprotected side.

Pathrin snarled and slammed into Driger.

"Go, Pathrin! Attack!"

"Come on, Driger! You can take em!"

The two beyblades went head to head and kept coming back for more as the bit beasts hissed and snarled at one another. Then, from the crowd, came the words that would finish the match.

"The boat headed for Japan is supposed to be leaving in ten minutes."

"Really?"

"Yeah. We'd better go if we wanna get on."

"Shame. Things were just heating up."

THE BOAT! SHIT!

"DRIGER, SIDE SWIPE ATTACK! Finish him NOW!"

The tiger shot out and slashed Pathrin into submission. The game was over. The young lady's blade toppled over to a halt and it was done.

"Aw, man! That was cool!"

"Dude, that ending was crap."

"Yeah, but did you see the two cats? They were awesome!"

The girl picked up her blade and smiled. "You were really good. I guess the ride is free."

Hakaru picked up her blade and pocketed it. "Thanks, but I really gotta go. I'm gonna miss my ride outta here."

"Oh! I'm sorry if I inconvenienced you! My name is Mira. I'll see you around then...?"

"Hakaru."

"Right. Thanks so much for the match. See you around, Hakaru."

Taking off the girl trotted up and down streets until she, by luck alone, found the dock. Fortunately she had had time to change out of her village robes and into her old street clothes.

The blue sweater had red trim around the collar, the end of the sleeves and around the bottom. There were two yellow stars on it and the one on her left was bigger then the one on her right.

Her white pants were more of an off white from sleeping on roofs and rummaging through dumpsters for food and there was a hole in the left knee.

Back in the old days when she was a street kid, Hakaru had only had her blade and the clothes on her back. Now was no different.

Her old shoes were worn and there was a hole in the side of the right sole.

Her socks had holes in them too and they were too old to sew up anymore.

The red gloves had space for the thumbs, index and middle fingers to poke out but the other two fingers were completely covered to hide the horrible scars on her hands. Even the villagers wouldn't look at them.

It would be easier to get onto the boat with no extra baggage.

There was a man at the dock checking tickets. By now Hakaru could stowaway, hitchhike or find a free way into a ride and this was going to be a snap.

"Hey, mister, is this ship going to Japan?"

"Yep. She's gonna be off in four minutes. Say, where are your parents, kid? They can't have let you come on a trip to Japan all on your own."

"Oh no, mister, they've got my ticket and they said that they were gonna send me on ahead to wait for them."

"Alright."

Now was time for the waiting game. Two minutes later the waiting was over. A small crowd of people, tourists Hakaru was guessing, came up. As they walked onto the boat, Hakaru slipped into the herd and was away. As soon as she was on board, the blonde snuck out of the crowd and went to find a place where she could hide.

"Just like the old days."

"We've gotta find Tyson!" Kenny ran down the stairs carrying his laptop.

"Kenny, how many times..."

"Have you told me not to run down the stars? One hundred and seventy eight, dad!"

"Hey, where are you going?"

"Out!" The Chief slipped his shoes on and trotted down the street.

"How are we going to find Tyson, Kenny? He could be anywhere."

"That's the last thing I needed to hear right now, Dizzy!"

"Well sorry for telling the truth."

"Why didn't you say something earlier? I've been wracking my brains out over this and you knew all along that that kid had a bit beast that we couldn't see!"

"Sorry. I just wanted you to figure it out on your own."

Figure it on my own? Yeah right! If I know Tyson, he's got his heart set on challenging that kid to another match. He'll loose if he doesn't know about the bit beast!


	5. When in Doubt

Chapter 5: When in Doubt

"Did you hear? There's a stowaway on the ship!"

"Well it's a bit late now, we're only five minutes form shore."

Hakaru was listening as she trotted down the hallway. On her left was the railing that kept people from falling off the ship and on the right there were rooms where people were eating and talking.

I could use some of that grub. She thought. Too bad, mind you.

"Do you think they'll catch the stowaway?"

"I'm not sure."

The two old ladies went on and eventually Hakaru stopped running and looked out into the horizon. She could see Japan's port now, and it seemed farther then five minutes...but what the hell, why not?

Using the railing, she swung herself off the ship! The air whipped past her hair as she fell. Good thing her beyblade was more or less waterproof!

SPLASH.

People above were screaming, "Someone just jumped off the boat! Somebody get help!" But by then Hakaru had surfaced and was swimming toward Japan. Seawater had filled her pointy, white cat ears. Sputtering, she reminded herself never to do that again.

"I'm loosing my touch here." She sputtered as she swam away from the boat and on to the country that lay ahead.

Tyson had found the cloaked boy. A small crowd had come to watch the fight that they were sure was yet to come.

"So, you're back I see." The kid said. He was a bit shorter then Tyson so it made him look like he was only in the third or fourth grade.

"Yeah! And this time I'm gonna win!"

"Good for you." The boy seemed to smile but was otherwise unaffected by the words. Just as the two were getting ready to start, the Chief ran down the road and put an end to the fight that never started.

"Tyson! Get over here right now!"

"K-Kenny, can't you see I'm busy?"

"So am I! Come here!"

"Be right back." Tyson sighed and trotted over out of earshot of the other kids.

"What's up, Chief? Where's the fire?"

"In his Beyblade, that's where! Tyson, that kid has a bit beast!"

"Yeah right, Kenny! How come we haven't seen it?"

"It's invisible to the naked eye."

"So it's a ghost?"

"NO! It's a leopard. And it's a fire element beast like Kai's is."

"Oh. So what do you want me to do?"

"Just be careful, okay."

Nodding, Tyson walked back to the dish and loaded up his launcher.

"So, you came back." The boy smirked.

"Yeah. Did you think I'd bail out on you?" Tyson smiled back.

"Hardly."

"TYSON! WHAT ARE YOU DOING? YOU STILL HAVE DETENTION!" Hillary had just come up the road and had noticed the boys.

"Oh great. What is SHE doing here?" Tyson moaned. Just what he needed...Hillary on his back. "Can't you see I'm busy?"

"Fine! One game, but after that, you're cleaning the classroom!"

"Sounds like your girlfriend's calling you, Tyson."

"G-GIRLFIREND?! You've gotta be kidding me! I came here to fight, not to talk about mushy romance, so are you going to cut the crap and play or not?"

"You think that you've got what it takes to beat me?"

"You bet! And I know about your little invisible beast."

"Ah, I wondered how long you'd take to get a hold of that information."

"3...2...1...LET IT RIP!"

Hacking a sputtering for air, Hakaru washed up on the shores of Japan. Apparently what would have taken a boat five minutes would have taken a human twenty. Cold, soaked, and tired the Neko lay on the beach trying to get her strength back.

"Man...That is the last time I try something like that."

Getting up, she slipped onto the street and trotted off into town. Hey, at least she didn't need a passport. And maybe in half an hour her clothes would be dry too!

"Okay. I think that'll be enough for today." Calvin said as he sat down with the other Dragon Slayers. "How are our stats looking, Tyler?"

"Not too bad. Yusuki's endurance is good, but his defense is lacking. His attacks are good but he should pace himself and work on his speed and endurance. That's his strength. Cail has a nice even mix between attack and defense so he's got a nice well-rounded advantage. Calvin, you've got a very good defective system here and you're attack is looking good, but you can't run for too long, so I think you should work on that. My attack is good and I have a fairly good defense, but I need to work on stamina. Not to mention my accuracy's off."

"Great. This'll take forever and we only have two weeks." Cail sighed and looked at his beyblade. "And don't forget...Dranzer could use a tune-up."

"Actually, now that you mention it, so could Wolbourg."

"Wouldn't hurt Galion to get a nice new attack ring." Yusuki smiled a little at the thought of new parts and stuff he couldn't have.

"Trihorn would do nicely with a new weight disk." Tyler muttered.

"Well...how much cash do we have on us?" Cail asked.

Everyone rummaged through their pockets and pulled out anything they had.

"I got two hundred Yen, a rubber band, two paper clips and an old piece of dryer lint." Cail said.

Tora-chan: Two hundred Yen is about (roughly guesses) two bucks or so. It's not a lot.

"I have one hundred Yen, a marble, some eraser shavings, and a scrap of paper saying I owe myself fifty Yen." Tyler showed the group.

"I have...lint, a pocket knife, this bottle cap and twenty Yen."

Yusuki rummaged through his pockets and then pulled out some grit and a piece of straw.

"Okay...that gives us two hundred and twenty Yen." Tyler added it up.

"Don't forget the paper clip." Cail smirked.

"Right. And the rubber band."

"We can't buy beyblade parts on two hundred and twenty Yen, a paper clip and a rubber band!"

"What if we add the lint and the straw?" Yusuki said.

Tyler leaned over and smacked him upside the head.

"Alright, so if we have no cash...we should all get part time jobs and-." Cail suggested.

"There's no time for that. Besides we have our own parts we've won off other kids. Tyler, you mind running back to the village and getting all the loose parts we've got so far?" Calvin asked.

"Sure. Be back in a sec."

Fifteen minutes passed and the boy was back.

"Okay, so let's have a look." The spare parts were spread out and the four boys sorted out the usable pieces from the crap.

"I think I can work with this." Tyler said as he looked over a particular attack ring. Being the brains of the group he was the one who made all the new equipment for the team.

"I'll work on one blade at a time. Yusuki, I'll work with yours first 'cause you got an attack ring that looks like its been through the wood cutter." The boy handed his black beyblade to Tyler and sighed.

"While he has your Beyblade, you can ref our match." Cail smirked.

"Actually, Cail...you're attack ring is almost totaled too. I'd better have your blade before the rest of it's trashed."

"Aw man. Bummer." The boy muttered as he handed over his Beyblade to Tyler.

"I guess you'll want mine too?" Calvin said.

"Yeah. May as well."

The two beyblades slammed into one another as the struggle went on. The kids on the sidelines were going crazy as they cheered on their hometown hero.

"Come on, Tyson!"

"Give it to him good!"

"Run him into the ground!"

"You can do it, Tyson! Keep going!"

"Oh please. This is so stupid! I can think of ten other things I'd rather be doing." Hillary muttered under her breath.

"Dragoon! Attack!"

But once again...nothing.

"W-what's wrong, Dragoon?"

"Flash Leopard! Attack!"

"Here it comes, Tyson! The invisible bit beast!"

The black blade bashed into Tyson's attack ring throwing his opponent close to the edge of the dish. Tyson's blade wobbled a bit, but was soon back on track.

"Dragoon! Attack him!" Tyson tried again but still no dragon bit beast.

"Is this what you call World Champion material? You're blade isn't even in my league!"

"You think so? Dragoon is just getting started!"

"Oh really. So where is this 'Dragoon' of yours? I don't see him anywhere." The boy mocked.

"Hey, I'm not seeing your bit beast either, punk."

"Yeah, but I'm the one who's winning."

Grinding his teeth, Tyson looked down at the dish. His beyblade was taking hit after wild hit and it looked like Dragoon wasn't about to show up anytime soon.

How am I gonna clinch this match if Dragoon's not here and that brat's got a bit beast I can't see? Think, Tyson, think! There has to be a way!

"Attack now, Flash Leopard!" The black beyblade swerved to the side and bashed Dragoon's blade up against the wall. Then, the unexpected happened. The black beyblade tipped to one side allowing its attack ring to lock under Tyson's to flip the opposing blade out of the dish.

Everyone in the crowd was stunned. Tyson had lost.

"Well...looks like that ended faster then you thought it would. Too bad for you, huh?" As the boy turned and walked away, Tyson picked up his blade.

"Oh, and for the record, my name's Ozuma."

Dark rain clouds rolled in as the crowd rolled out and away from Tyson and the Chief. Even Hillary left the crowd as the rain came down.

"I lost."

"Not just you. Max and Rei have had the same trouble and have been beaten under similar circumstances."

"Rei AND Max? What about Kai?"

"Nope. Haven't heard from him. In fact, I have no idea where he is." Kenny sighed. "Come on...we should get out of the rain."


	6. Seeing you Again

Chapter 6: Seeing You Again

Two days had passed and there was nothing really to say for them. Wyatt had been clinging to Kai like some sort of puppy. This hero worship thing was going too far in his opinion.

Kai had found himself a good place to make a fort. There was an old abandoned building that no one ever went in. There, Kai had found an old couch and a table. The place was on the second floor of the building and by pulling down the fire escape he was able to get in and out. It was nice to have a place to go where he could think and be alone. Of course, unknown to Kai, Wyatt knew about his hide out and he knew where it was.

Tora-chan: This kid is gonna be a stalker when he grows up, I just KNOW it.

Anyhow, that day, as Kai left the abandoned building...

Tora-chan: 'probably not abandoned anymore now, is it?

Everyone: SHUT UP! 

...Wyatt waited for him to leave. After an hour past and he was sure Kai wasn't coming back anytime soon, the boy crept up to the building and pulled down the fire escape stairs. Climbing up the old, metal steps he opened the door and peeked in. The room was dark and dingy, but what the hell, it was an abandoned building right? There was an old rag draped over the window. The thin sheet billowed a bit in a light afternoon breeze. Only a little light from the setting sun leaked in to cast shadows on the wooden walls.

"This is so cool!" The teen squealed as he crept into the room and examined the couch and table.

"..............."

Wyatt's head shot up and he looked around the room to see where the sound of someone's breathing came from.

"Kai? Are you in here?"

"K...K-Kai......"

Wyatt shivered. This was creepy.

"Kai."

The boy yelped in shock and took off out of the building. There was someone in that building! Something was alive in there!

Running through the dorm the kid looked everywhere for Kai, but he couldn't find him. Until finally the bright spark decided he should look for Kai in his dormitory room. Of coarse that's where he was.

"KAI! You have to come quick! There's something alive in that building!" Wyatt shouted.

"Wha-? How do you know about that? Have you been following me there?" Kai grabbed the kid by the caller. This was an invasion of privacy on a very strange level.

"No! I mean, yes...but that's not the point!"

"Yeah, the point is 'LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE', KID!" Kai shook the boy a little to drive his point home.

"Listen to me! Someone's in there! Something keeps calling for you. Kai, what if it's haunted?" Wyatt whimpered.

"Oh for the love of-! Grow up, kid! Ghosts don't exist!"

But they do...

"Your mom says 'hi'."

The woman in the graveyard had been real. Hakaru's mother had been real then and she was a ghost.

So maybe...

No.

"Please, Kai! You have to come and see."

Kai sighed the boy let Wyatt go and let him lead him to the building.

The two went up the steps to the door and poked their heads in.

"Looks normal to me" Kai whispered to Wyatt.

"I'm telling you, there was something or someone in here!"

Walking in the two looked around.

"And I'm telling you, there is no such thing as gho-!" The Blade Breaker found himself face first on the floor.

"Kai!" The boy raced over to his hero to help him up.

"What was that?" He muttered as he felt around in the dark to see what he had tripped over. Finding the object his feet had not expected to be there he grabbed it and pulled it up.

Wyatt nearly had a cardiac arrest. There, in Kai's hand, was a human ankle. The boy let a squeak escape his lips.

"Will you shut up, Wyatt!"

"B-bu-but...K-Kai-!"

"I know!" Dragging the body so that it would be in the pool of light instead of the dark where he couldn't see weather the person was dead or not.

"Oh, bloody hell."

"What? What is it? Do you know her?"

"Hakaru you ass!" Kai lifted the girl off the ground by her shoulders and shook hard.

"You sure that wont kill her?"

"Shut up, Wyatt. This brat is built like a brick and just as dense. You could throw her off the roof and odds are she'd be okay."

"Oh."

"Wake up, damn you!"

"Kai...dizzy." The girl moaned as the boy dropped her to the ground.

"What are you doing here?"

"I came to find you."

"When was the last time you ate something?"

"A while." Three days to be exact.

"Wyatt, stay put. I'm going to get food. Do me a favor. Don't let her leave."

The kitty at his feet didn't look like she was capable of moving anyway so the boy sat down and sighed. It was creepy staying in a dim room with a girl who he didn't know. The green, half-closed, cat eyes were locked on him and Wyatt squirmed under the gaze. Who was this kid?

The door was flung open and Kai walked in with some bread.

"Get up." The former Blade Breaker snapped.

Hakaru slowly sat up and nearly collapsed back down.

"Don't tell me you've been going through the dumpsters again."

"Suddenly I have a choice? Kai, the world beyblading tournament is coming soon...I needed to talk with you before this starts."

"Shut up and eat."

The cat didn't refuse. The food was gone in a good five minutes.

"Thanks. I needed that."

"So...who are you anyway?" Wyatt, who was feeling horribly ignored, asked.

"Yamoto Hakaru, at your service. Or I would be if I had the time."

"I've heard of you before...weren't you...that kid who started the fight in the World Series last year?"

"Oh yeah. That was me." She blushed.

"About the World Series...are you going to be entering?" Kai asked.

"Hell yeah! Calvin and the others are coming from China in two weeks. We have three weeks to pull ourselves together before we need to register for the preliminary rounds." Hakaru explained.

"That long, huh?"

"Um...Kai...is she you're girlfriend?" Wyatt asked blankly.

Hakaru: =o.O=

Kai: 

"HAKARU'S NOT MY GIRLFRIEND!" Kai nearly started to strangle the boy.

"I have a fiancé though, and just for the record, it's not him." The blonde pointed to Kai who was still fuming over his classmates' earlier comments.

"Have you seen RJ and Rei?"

"Yeah. We, Yusuki and I, saw them a few days ago. They're going to be coming too."

"Any word from Max?"

"No. Nothing."

Sighing, Kai pulled out his Dranzer beyblade and looked it over. It would be so nice to be able to beyblade as a Blade Breaker again. But then...he would be soon.

"Do you want to have a match? You and me right now?" Kai was eager to see how good the girl had gotten in the last little while.

"Not right now. We should save it for the championship."

"Where are you staying?"

"Anywhere. I really don't know."

"You reckless-! You can't stay here."

"Then I'll go and find an abandoned house or something...doesn't matter to me."

"Go stay with Tyson."

"Hell, no! Why would I want to do that?"

"Because you're not staying here!"

The two argued back and forth until Wyatt came up with an idea.

"Why doesn't she stay at the school? I bet the principal will let you keep here there if you explain."

"Fine. But if it doesn't work out then we have to think of something else."

"Alright." Hakaru sighed defeated


	7. Calling all Dragoon

Chapter 7: Calling all Dragoon

"Max, I think I've fixed your beyblade." Max's mom walked out of the lab and handed over her son's new blade.

"Thanks mom."

"Max...you know there's been talk about the next World Series."

"Yeah"

"I'm ready to book you a flight to Japan in a week, is that okay?" Max's mom looked at her son and hoped he'd say yes.

"Sure. But before that, could you do me a favor?"

"Sure."

"Could I use the training room all day today? And tomorrow too please?"

Sighing, Max's mother nodded and left to go book the room for her son. All day today and tomorrow? How badly had he lost in the last match? Was it really so bad that her son would need to be working for the next two days? Hopefully not.

Tyson was frustrated. As he sat in class he thought back on the match. How could he have lost? Him? The World Champion? Fortune seemed to be smiling on him that afternoon because Hillary wasn't there to piss him off or to stop him from daydreaming.

Why didn't you come, Dragoon? Why did you and I lose to that kid? Was he really that good? Did he really have a bit beast?

"Tyson?"

The boy looked up to see his teacher standing over him. Yelping in shock, he nearly leaped out of his seat.

"G-gomen, Sensei. I..."

I what? There was nothing to say. He couldn't stop thinking about Dragoon and about how he was going to bring him out of his blade.

"Ten...eleven...twelve..."

Kenny was walking down the street near the riverbank when he saw his friend working himself hard.

"Tyson? What are you doing?"

"What does it look like, Chief? I've got to get in shape so that I can call Dragoon from his bit." Tyson was sweating and looked a little frustrated.

"Good thing you got to it. I was going to call you and get you started on a training program to help you along with Dragoon. Dizzy cooked it up last night. I've got it right here." The Chief handed over some paper with a few notes on them.

Jogging...

Pushups...

Stretching...

Practice basic beyblade sequences...

Sit-ups...

"Are you trying to kill me, Kenny?"

"No. I'm trying to help you with your Dragoon troubles."

He was right. As always.

Hakaru walked through the halls with Kai and Wyatt. She had been allowed to stay with them until she found somewhere to crash more permanently. Kai knew in his heart that the little spitfire would most likely take off by after tomorrow. He also knew in his heart that there was nothing he could do to prevent it.

"So, this is your room, huh?" The blonde stopped in front of the room door.

"Yeah. And yours is that spare one over there. This is supposed to be a boy's school. The principal made an exception only because he likes cats." Kai muttered.

"Do I have to wear the goofy uniform?"

"No." Wyatt assured her.

"Good. You all look like a bunch of stiffs." The girl grouched as Kai opened the door to show Hakaru what she could expect to find in her room.

"Konichiwa, Kai-kun."

"R-RJ? I thought you were with Rei."

"I told him I'd head on over ahead. Besides...I haven't seen you in so long."

RJ's red hair was still held up in the front by her bandana. Her silver eyes were smooth and calm in the light of seeing her boyfriend again. She was sitting on the chair by the only desk in the room. Of course, by now, she had seen Hakaru. Or at least had smelled her scent.

"What are YOU doing here?" She sighed realizing that with the blonde around she would have less hope of having a moment alone with Kai.

"Yup."

"Isn't Harukazi here somewhere?"

"No. Yusuki and the Dragon Slayers are off in China. They're getting ready for the Tournament."

Too bad. Perhaps Yusuki could have kept Hakaru out of her hair. This was one of the only reasons that RJ put up with the other cat.

Wyatt, shocked to find what he thought was a boy in Kai's room, stared at RJ.

"Who's the kid?" RJ looked passed Kai to stare at the brunette.

"Huh, oh, Wyatt's my classmate. He found Hakaru in my hideout."

"H-hi. Are you...um...Kai's...uh...?"

"It's none of your damn business who I am." RJ growled advancing on the scared boy. At the last minute she turned and kissed Kai on the cheek. Wyatt was dumbstruck,

"B-but you're a...you're-I mean, you and Kai are both..." 'Boys' is what he meant to say, but it couldn't come out. Like Yusuki, Wyatt was very sure that RJ was a male. Now he wasn't sure if Kai was gay or not.

The next morning Tyson had promised to meet with Kenny at the park. Kenny was way too early, but you never knew with Tyson and it would be nice to clear the mind before the work had to begin.

"Kenny?" Hilary walked up to her classmate.

"Oh, hi Hilary. What's up?"

"Nothing much. I decided to head out for some fresh air."

"I see. By the way, have you seen Tyson on your way over?"

"No. Why, are you waiting for him?"

"Yeah. He said he'd be here, but I am early so I suppose I can't expect him for a little while now."

"Better get comfortable. Tyson's always at least five minutes late."

"Not always." Kenny remembered the past when they were playing against the Russian team. Tyson was always there on time. Always.

There was no time for reaction. The two kids were grabbed and gagged.

"This ought to bring out the champ."

Tyson walked down the street. He knew he was late, but why not enjoy the scenery? Kenny wouldn't mind if he was a little bit behind schedule.

Hakaru sat down in the front corner of the class. Kids in their uniforms stared at one another and the new kid.

"Who's the new girl? Better yet why is a girl in an all-boys school?"

"Not like I know."

"Looks more like a cat."

The teacher walked into the room with Kai following close behind.

"Alright class, due to unforeseen circumstances we'll be hosting two new exchange students from China."

Murmurs went up as the class looked around the room at the girl and they tried to find the second new member of their class.

"Yamoto Hakaru? That sounds Japanese...I thought you were from China." The professor looked up at the blonde.

"I'm Chinese, but there were a lot of people who had relatives in Japan. So everyone there knows how to speak Chinese and Japanese. That and the fact that we live near the sea that separates China and Japan, so there are a lot of people who speak both languages."

By this time no one was listening. Not even the teacher.

"So...Jin Raieka? Is there a Jin Raieka in the class?"

Everyone looked around again but there was no RJ.

"I guess Jin-san is absent today. Oh well. Yamoto-chan, please feel free to follow along with us in the books Kai gave you before class."

In truth, Kai hadn't given her any books at all. As the kitty stared out the window, Wyatt sat across the room and watched her silently. This kid was so weird. Where were her parents? Why were they letting their daughter run around like a wild animal? It wasn't that she wasn't animal like, but that was beside the point.

Just as the teacher started to work on long division math problems, the classroom door was kicked open and a redhead wearing a long black trench coat waltzed in. The fringes that trailed on the ground were tattered and ripped beyond repair.

Metal knuckle rings that read 'Bad' on one hand and 'Kitty' on the other caught the light of the overhead bulbs. The heavy steal toe boots looked as heavy as they were, but the redhead wore them well as though they were weightless. There was a belt done up around each of the baggy pant legs. The teen was wearing a baggy t-shirt underneath the jacket. On the black cloth sat a picture of a cracked skull with a wilting rose growing out of the cracks and eye sockets.

The scythe armbands glistened dangerously as the teen walked in. Flopping down in Kai's lap, RJ smiled.

"Hi, Kai-kun. Good to see you again." The redhead put their arms loosely around the boy's neck and purred.

"Excuse me! Who are you to break down the door of my classroom and walk in here as though you own this class?"

"But I do, don't I?" RJ smirked as the teen looked around the class. All the students were watching the redhead. Clearly the fierce blader held their attention like a chain. "As for who I am, my name is RJ."

"Am I to assume you're the second exchange student?"

"That would be me."

Kai's boyfriend! Wyatt stared at the girl he thought was a boy.

"Kenny? Kenny! I'm here, sorry I'm late! Kenny?" Tyson walked around the place where he had agreed to meet, but there was no sign of the Chief anywhere. In fact the park was deserted except for the one man in a suit that was standing off near the edge of the climbers.

"Hey, you're Tyson...from the Blade Breakers. So good of you to come."

"Do I know you?"

"No, but you will know my boss after today. You're here for the kid they call the Chief, right?"

"Yeah! You must be a friend of his! Have you seen him?"

"Yes, I saw him. And he's right here, along with you're little girlfriend." The Chief and Hillary were walked out into view of Tyson. They were tied up so they couldn't escape and gagged so they couldn't call for help.

"Kenny! What- who are you? Why is Kenny all tied up like that?"

"I'm here for one thing only, your bitbeast, Dragoon. If you can defeat our Beyblader then you can have your friends back. If not then we take Dragoon and you'll never see these two again!"

"What is this, some kind of sick joke? I'm not going to battle you until you let Kenny go!"

Hillary: Hey! What about me? 

"No deal. You fight us here and now!" The man snapped. "We hand picked our fighter just for you, so stick around."

"You wouldn't want to hurt my feelings would you?" A blonde haired boy stepped out of the shadows and grinned.

"Fine. One match and I WILL make you pay for what you've done."

"We'll see."

"3...2...1...LET IT RIP!"

"Dragoon!"

But again there was no flash of blue light. There was no roar that sounded like it could drown out a jet. There were no claws, no teeth, no scales and no Dragoon.

"Looks like your dragon doesn't want to play. What a shame. I went through so much training under the impression you were better." The blonde mocked.

Sounds like Hakaru would if she were mocking him. But Hakaru wasn't here. Nor were Kai or Rei or Max...none of them were here. No RJ, no Kai, no Max, no Rei...just him and these two weirdoes who had Kenny and Hillary captive for his bitbeast Dragoon.

"If you're just going to swerve around the dish like a loose cannon, then I'll start this battle off myself! Pumana! Attack!" A mountain lion leaped from the beyblade and snarled at Tyson's blade. There were stone feathers all down the back of the beast and on the tip of the long tail. The eyes of the cat were grayish like rock and so was its fur. The bitbeast had a spiky metal collar with chains that connected to all four paws. Each chain held an open shackle.

Where was Dragoon? Why wasn't he here? Tyson couldn't do this without him! If he didn't have a bitbeast to even the odds...what good could he be in battle?

"Pumana, rockslide attack!" Tyson's beyblade was slammed into the wall of the dish as the opposing beyblade battered and bashed it further in.

He was going to lose! There was nothing else for this!

"How did you get to be champ? This is too easy! I could finish you right here and right now! Tala must have been a real wuss to have lost to you!"

"D-DRAGOON! PHANTOM HURRICANE ATTACK!"

There was a flicker of anger from Tyson; and a stream of blue light shot forth from the blade. Dragoon created a whirlwind and trapped Pumana in the vortex.

"Pumana, stay strong! ROCKSILDE ATTACK!"

Claws ranked forth and dug deep into the dish, as the dragon and the mountain lion fought.

"Dragoon, finish him!" The hurricane picked up and the wind thrashed the opposing beyblade right out of the stadium. The attack ring shattered and the bit chip cracked. Pumana seeped out of the cracked chip and shot out into the world to be free to find a new beyblader.

The man in the suit took off and disappeared around the corner leaving the blonde at the mercy of the children there.


	8. Troubles of Maximum Proportion

Chapter 8: Troubles of Maximum Proportion

"Uh huh... Right. Okay. I'll see you in a day or so...right. Right. Okay. Yeah. Well, see you." Tyson hug up the phone and headed outside. Max and the others would be over soon. Rei had already started to arrange his way over to Japan where the World Series was being held. Soon the Blade Breakers would be together again and then they could win the next championships together.

"And so, class...when the three is carried to the next exponent-." The teacher may as well have been paint drying on the wall for all Hakaru could care. Staring out the window at a few nearby birds, the girl sighed. She should be free like them. What was the point of all these numbers? It wasn't going to keep all these kids from dieing one day. It wouldn't save them from anything; it probably wouldn't even be remembered after the class was over. What was the point?

RJ was sitting beside Kai. She wasn't listening ether, but she was watching Kai writing the board note.

Hakaru really wanted to go outside and play...she really wanted to go and have fun. Beyblading would be fun about now. Yeah! A big, free-for-all! That would be so much fun! There was just so much to live for rather then sitting in a desk working all day! There was so much more to life then this!

"AGH! I can't take it anymore!" The blond blurted as she jumped out of her seat and onto the desk. Her fluffy, white cat-like tail swished side to side in annoyance.

Everyone: O.o?

"Yamoto-chan! What is the meaning of this? Sit down right now!" The teacher yelped.

"I can't take all these numbers anymore! You," She pointed at RJ, "You and me, right now! We're having a beyblade battle!"

The familiar glint in RJ's eyes flickered and she stood up. "Beating you stupid is gonna be better then listening to this old quack."

"Y-you can't do this!"

"We were meant to live for so much more then math! We were meant to live!" RJ shot.

Tora-chan: Sorry...that last line was from Switchfoot 'meant to live'. Love that song.

"3...2...1...LET IT RIP!"

The two blades jumped from table to table top until they both rested on one student's desk. The boy leaped back and got out of the way as the fight went on.

"Alright!"

"A Beyblade match!"

"Down in front!"

"Who's gonna win?"

The boys of the class stood around the perimeter of the room to keep enough space between the beyblades and themselves.

"Stop this at once! There will be no tolerance for interruptions like this in class!"

"Go, Driger!" Hakaru and RJ weren't listening at all. The white tiger burst out of the blade and hissed. Wyatt yelped, other boys jumped with fright as the white tiger toppled desks, broke the ceiling fan and clawed its way through anything in its path.

"Wusses. This is how we separate the boys from the MEN! CECILE! TAKE HER DOWN!" The harpy burst forth in time to catch the tiger by the metal on its shoulders.

Kai couldn't take anymore. "Let it RIP! Dranzer!"

"Yeah! Alright! Kai's gonna win for sure!" Everyone nodded and cheered as the teacher tried to break up the match.

"I'll have you three suspended if you don't stop this craziness at once!"

"News flash...we don't even go to this school." RJ spat.

"What's 'suspended'?" Hakaru asked.

"Nothing you need to worry about." Kai shrugged. His Dranzer came out and began to claw at Cecile with its talons.

"Driger! TAKE THEM OUT! Tiger Claws ATTACK!" The desks were shredded into splinters and scrap wood. The blackboard was cut in two and one half clattered to the floor with a bang. Kids kept close to the wall to keep out of the way of the beyblades and their beasts.

"Cecile, Cyber Claw ATTACK!"

RJ's purple blade landed on the teachers' desk and split the wood into chunks sending the debris whipping at the opposing blades. Papers and textbooks that had been there before were shredded into confetti and fluttered around the room with the wind. Two out of the five windows broke and shattered with the shockwave of her attack. Driger went on the offensive and swiped his claws at Cecile. The Harpy was caught up in the wind-elemental attack, but managed to block the brunt of it.

"Dranzer! Hakaru's wide open! ATTACK!" His blade shot across the room and took out a few of the remaining windows. All the desks that had been still standing weren't and there were multiple holes in the wall from shockwaves, splinters and flying chunks of the desks and chairs. The teacher was cowering behind what was left of his desk as people from other classes came in and watched. A few kids started to join the fight and pandemonium ensued.

"DRANZER! Flaming arrow ATTACK!" The floor tiles were scratched, scraped and scared, but now the damage of the classroom was about to get worse. The door the classroom was blasted off its hinges. The Phoenix screamed as it slashed at the harpy who had left herself open.

"Not a good idea, Kai! Attack, Cecile!"

"Driger, SIDE SWIPE ATTACK!" Three other beyblades that had joined the classroom duel were shot out of the fight. RJ's blade tore down the other half of the black board and blasted the splinters everywhere. Kids ducked down to avoid the pieces of wood that were now impaled in the wall. Kai, not to be outdone, was attacking Hakaru full out. The white tiger had its claws full dealing with the phoenix as Cecile came in from the left to bash them both from the deadlock.

"DRIGER, ATTACK!"

The wall of the classroom that lead to the hallway began to crumble near the doorframe as the claws of the tiger wrenched through them.

Then, just as things were getting good, the principal showed up.

Tyler was sitting on the old fallen tree that Hakaru and Yusuki use t sit on when they skipped classes so long ago. The three other boys were sitting beside him on the old tree.

"Okay. Your blades are all done. Yusuki, you're first." Handing the blade to the boy on his right, Yusuki began to examine the black and red blade. The attack ring never looked better in all its days and the base was aligned just right. Putting his Galion bit into the blade, Yusuki smiled.

"Thanks. I'll give it a test run as soon as I can."

"I've given you an attack ring that's gonna up your attack and your endurance. Your blade base is for your defense, which you really need to work on."

"What about me?" Cail said impatiently.

"Fine. Here." The blue beyblade was passed to Cail who was on his far left. "I've given you a nice new weight disk. The old one was shit."

"I knew it." Cail muttered aloud as he put his Dranzer into his blade.

"Right. That leaves Calvin. Here you go." The team captain looked over the new blade. The silver caught the light of the sun through the trees. As he put the Wolbourg bit in his blade, Tyler rattled off a few new improvements.

"Kay, the attack ring's been switched for this one. The old one was smashed in pretty bad. The blade base is more or less the same structure, but it's a bit different then what you're use to."

"Great. I'll give it a try."

"I've my blade to fix up, but you can start using your new beyblades if you want. They're fully functional now. Oh and this time, no launching them at rocks, kay?"

Tyler walked off to the iron shop that he had called his office for the last few days and nights as he had pulled all-nighters trying to fix up every ones blades before they got too impatient.

"Hiro-san, you should be resting. This is the third day you've been in here. Go have a rest." Shiin, the ironsmith of the town sighed.

"Nope. I've still got to fix my blade."

"Come now, there's going to be plenty of time for that later, boyo. Go and rest."

Tyler slouched down in the stool by the low-to-the-ground desk. "Not a chance in hell, Shiin. I've got work to do."

Shrugging, Shiin went off to put more coal in the fires and began to work.

Tyler fiddled with the attack ring combinations and weight disks. There was just so much to do...the Dragon Slayer fell asleep at the desk. His beyblade was still in his hands.

"WHAT IN THE WORLD IS GOING ON IN HERE?!" The principal shouted.

The room around him was in uproar. No one was really listening, and those who tried couldn't hear anyhow. RJ was standing on a desk that had, miraculously, not been harmed; Hakaru was running leaping around the room trampling all the debris that littered the torn up floor, Kai was standing in the center of the room, not bothering to move out of the way of anything or anyone. The teacher was crouched under the remains of his desk weeping, children were launching their own beyblades into the fray as shouts and cheers went up from the crowd. Windows were broken, the walls had holes knocked into them, the black board was in pieces on the floor and the class was in an uproar.

"DRANZER!"

"DRIGER!"

"CECILE!"

The three blades went on a head on collision. All three blades dropped to the floor in a tie.

"That was awesome," Hakaru danced around as she picked up her blade, "Let's do it again!"

"I was so sure I had that one." RJ mumbled.

Kai didn't say a word as he grabbed his blade.

"YOU THREE! IN MY OFFICE...NOW!"

"Busted." Kai whispered.

"Definitely busted." Hakaru muttered.

"Who's the stiff?" RJ said aloud.


	9. Distance Can't Keep us Down

Chapter 9: Distance can't keep us down

Max was exhausted. He had trained and trained until his limbs were raw. There was only a day before the plane ride to Japan. Rest was what he needed now. Draceal had had his final upgrade and the hard work was paying off. Already Max couldn't wait to see his old team. There was nothing that could stop them now! Come hell or high water they were the best...he was the best.

"Never in my long years of work at this school have I seen such a demonstration of destruction and disrespect for this fine academy! I was appalled to step out of my office and find one of my classrooms in total ruin, the classes in uproar and a full-grown man weeping in the corner of the class. What have you three to say for yourselves?" The principal was red in the face as he looked at the three Beybladers who were standing in front of him.

RJ looked uninterested. The gaze in her eyes echoed her boredom. Hakaru wasn't even listening. She was used to being scolded like this so it was easy to drone the old man out. Kai wasn't really listening ether, but out of the three he was the one paying most attention.

"You, Yamoto Hakaru, I presume? I let you stay here because you have nowhere to stay while you're visiting Japan. Is THIS how you repay me?"

"Huh? Were you saying something?"

The principal rubbed his forehead and groaned under his breath.

"Tell me, child, is this how you behave in your classes back in China?"

"Yup."

Principal: O.o

RJ: It's true

Kai: --U

"So...you cause trouble, destroy classrooms and beyblade?"

"Yup...and skip classes to run around outside."

"This can't be happening." The old man cried. Then, turning to RJ, "What do you have to say about this?"

"If you hadn't interrupted I could've won that match!" The girl snarled.

"ARGH!" Clearly fed up, he moved on. "Well, Kai? Surely you can explain yourself."

"Not really."

"Don't you fell SORRY for destroying the classroom?"

"Not really."

"You made a teacher cry!"

"So?"

"I don't even go to this school." Hakaru said.

"You can't just leave!" The principal demanded.

"Sure I can. Watch." The cat yanked open the window and leaped out from the second floor. This nearly caused the man to have a heart attack as she landed on all fours and walked away.

"Dumbass." RJ sighed.

"You can't swear in my office!"

"Why not you useless old geezer? I'll do whatever the hell I want, you go that?" With that RJ kissed Kai on the cheek and walked out of the room.

By now the principal was close to tears.

"Look, I really couldn't care less about any of this. As far as I'm concerned the room needed remodeling anyway, the teacher was a loser and you're an old stiff trying to run a circus of freaks."

"THAT DOES IT! YOU'RE EXSPELLED! CLEAR OUT YOUR DORM AND LEAVE! NOW!"

"Thanks. I was hoping I'd get kicked out of this nut house." Kai smiled thinly as he walked out of the room.

Tyler woke up to see a woman in a kimono standing over him. Her blond hair was tied back in a loose braid. Her eyes were yellow like cats eyes were. The kimono she wore was red silk with cranes embroidered into the cloth. The woman had her wooden clogs on and held a paper parasail firmly with both hands. The room around them was misted out as though a thick fog had rolled into the room without anyone noticing. The woman smiled and put her hand on the boy's shoulder. Pulling something out of her pocket, the woman handed it to Tyler and bowed. Turning to leave, she smiled warmly and said not a word.

The room was empty. There was no fog, no woman, not even a footprint in the dirt floor of the shop to show that she had been there. Tyler rubbed his eyes slowly after he opened them. Had it all been a dream? It was then that he realized that there was something in his closed fist. Opening it he saw the finished Trihorn Beyblade. It was so new and looked as though he had bought it from a store and not made it out of spare parts. Putting his bit beast into the blade he looked back to admire the work.

"So...you got it done then?" Shiin walked into the shop and over to where the boy sat.

"I don't think so. I fell asleep and when I woke up it was done."

"Mustta finished it in yer sleep, boyo."

"There was this lady. She gave it to me...I must've been dreaming."

"Lady? Boy, you tell me what she looked like. Was she cute?" The bachelor asked.

"She had blond hair, a red kimono and a parasail, wooden clogs and-."

"And she had a smile that only a mother can give?"

"How'd you know about that?"

"Boyo, you've not had a dream...you saw a ghost. Harukazi-san's mother. She was so beautiful. She and I were good friends, see?"

"Friends?"

"Aye. She was a real dreamer, that one. But don't get me wrong; there was nothing that she loved more then her boy and her husband. Yusuki meant the world to her. Sometimes they say you can still see the departed seers every now and then. When you need help or when they feel like showing up, you get a glimpse of the dearly departed. Makes my skin crawl personally, but knowing that you saw Shou Lin is somewhat comforting...like a mother giving aid to her boy when he needs it."

Tyler got up and shrugged. "Whatever."

The boy left Shiin to shake his head.

"Sorry...that's his way of saying thanks." Calvin walked in from the other room as Tyler disappeared out the door. "He ain't too good with talking to people. You gotta get to know how he talks and then you can understand what he means."

"Ah. What's with him? A boy his age should be able to speak well enough."

"Oh, he speaks well enough; just people don't always catch what he means. Hiro-san was ignored at school and his parents always pushed him to do so well academically that he always had his nose in his work and never got to practice being with people. It's no big deal. Just remember...his 'Sorry' means 'thank you', his 'whatever' means 'you're welcome' and on occasion it doubles as a 'thanks for the help'."

Shiin smiled. "Reminds me of my brother when he was little. 'Course he moved to Japan five years ago."

Calvin grinned and walked out of the shop leaving Shiin alone.

"What strange kids. I think I'm going to need a translator for the lot of them."

Rei sighed as he continued his trip to the coast where Hakaru had been not too long ago to cross the sea. But first he'd need to make a pit stop at Yusuki and Hakaru's old village. Walking into town was easy enough, but how would he know where to find the two? Lucky for him, Rei managed to catch Yaoh walking past.

"Hey! Yaoh! Good to see you!"

"Ah, Rei! Nice to see you too!"

"Do you know where Hakaru and Yusuki are?"

"Sorry, friend. They disappear like the wind. One minute they're right beside you and the next they're gone...The Tigers of the Wind." He mumbled the last few words to himself.

"I need to talk with them. Can you tell me where they usually are?"

"I can try. Truth be told I'm looking for them too. They've ditched classes again. If you help me look I'm sure we can find them faster." The scrawny, young man said.

Walking into the woods, Rei was told to be careful as the two previously mentioned neko-jin were known for setting random traps in the woods and then forget where they had put them. It took two hours before they found the crew of the Dragon Slayers off training in an old clearing.

"There you are! You thought you could skip my classes, did you, Harukazi-kun?"

The redhead looked up at his teacher and scoffed.

"Who the hell do you think you are, kid?"

"I'M YOUR TEACHER! YOU AGREED TO LET ME TEACH YOU!" The poor young man was at his wits end.

"I may have agreed to let you be my teacher...but you haven't earned my respect."

"Respect?! Let me tell you something, kid..."

Yusuki turned his back to the man and continued with his beyblading.

"Don't you DARE turn your back on me when I'm talking to you!" Yaoh marched over and grabbed the young teen by the shoulder. The boy whipped around and punched Yaoh in the face.

"Don't touch me."

Yusuki's teacher fell back unconscious. The redhead turned to Rei and smirked.

"Sorry 'bout that. He's so annoying sometimes. Why'd you come all the way up here?"

"I came to tell you and Hakaru that I'm making my way over to Japan. Where is Hakaru anyway?"

"She's already in Japan. She left here a good five days ago."

"SHE WHAT?!" Yaoh was already on his feet. There was no way anyone could keep the young man down now. His pupil was not just skipping his classes...she actually left the country. This could be an issue.


	10. For You it Begins

Chapter 10: For you it Begins

Tora-chan: One thing I was disappointed with in both second and third season was that a few of the bit beasts' names were lacking –I thought- in creativity. I mean come on…you can come up with cool names like Dranzer or Galix, but now they give us stuff like Vortex ape or Pierce hedgehog. What is this?! So I've decided that enough is bloody well enough! In my fan fic I've decided to give the old bit beasts, like Vortex Ape, new names. They may not be as cool as Draceal or Dragoon…but it'll be a hell of a lot better then this unimaginative crap they've been giving us. Continues to rant on and on and on Thanks for understanding.

Kai was walking down the street when a boy grabbed him by the shoulder and spun him around to face the stranger. Kai ducked out of the newcomer's grasp and glared at the boy.

"You must be Kai."

"And if I am?"

"Then you and I are gonna have a little match."

"Oh? Is that right?"

"Better count on that!" The boy whipped out his beyblade and launcher and prepared for a fight.

"Why should I fight you? I don't even know your name."

"It's Dunga."

"I don't know what to be more surprised about, that your mother actually called you that or that you want to have a match with me."

"You take that back right now!"

"I'd rather not."

"TAKE IT BACK!"

"Seems someone skipped anger management classes again." Kai taunted. "But I suppose I could take some time to kick your ass."

Tora-chan: I know, I know. Kai uses that line on Johnny, but I couldn't resist!

"3…2…1…LET IT RIP!"

"Attack, Vexape, Attack!" A giant ape leaped from the red beyblade and started to pummel Kai's Dranzer blade for all it was worth.

"You'll need more then an oversized chimp to take out Dranzer! Come on Dranzer! ATTACK!"

Kai's blue beyblade went on the offensive. Every hit pushed the opposing blade further and further away.

"ATTACK Vexape! Spark Hammer!"

"Dranzer, attack!"

The two blades skidded and collided.

"What exactly do you want from me?" Kai snarled.

"I'm here for one thing, your bit beasts! Already my teammates have attacked the three remaining Blade Breakers. We're out to take back your beasts."

Then what about Hakaru and RJ? Are they okay…wandering the streets alone? I promised to help Hakaru keep her beast safe! I need to find Hakaru! RJ should be fine…she's smart enough to keep out of trouble…for the most part. I need to get outta here.

"Sorry, Dunga. This match is over right now." Kai's blade retreated and after picking up the blade, Kai ran off.

"HEY! YOU CHICKENING OUT ON ME?"

"You wish, looser."

Where? Where could she be? Hakaru had to be around here somewhere. Yusuki would kill him if she were hurt or if Driger were gone. It looked like his old job of playing bodyguard was back up and running again. In a way he was happy to feel like he had something to do, but on the other hand Kai wished that Hakaru didn't have such a nose for trouble.

"Hakaru! Hakaru?" How far could a hobo get? Turning the corner, Kai ran right into a brown haired girl. The brunette fell backward to the ground.

"Tyson, you jacka-! Looking up Hillary realized that this wasn't Tyson.

"Tyson? You know Tyson?" Kai asked as the girl stood up

"Yeah. Who are you?"

"I've got no time for that! I'm in a hurry…"

"Who are you looking for? I heard you yelling."

Maybe she could help him. This girl knew Tyson so she might have been told about Hakaru.

"A friend of mine's in danger…I need to find her."

"What does she look like? I'll help."

Why not? With two more distance could be covered.

"Blond, not very tall…blue tattoos like mine…a blue and red sweater with two yellow stars, grubby pants, shoes with holes in them…red gloves-her name's Yamoto Hakaru. Oh…she has a white tail and white cat ears."

Hillary was confused. Were they looking for a kid or a cat? Maybe both. She had heard Kenny and Tyson talking about some kids from China that they knew and they had mentioned that they were cat people.

"Got it. Should we split up?" She asked.

"Yeah. Go that way and I'll go this way."

"Kay." Without any other instructions, Hillary took off toward where Kai had pointed. With such sketchy details about what this Hakaru looked like, Hillary was a little unsure of herself. And then there was the fact that this boy had known Tyson.

Max stepped off the airplane and made his way out of the busy lobby there were so many people and he really wanted to get out of here and get to Tyson's house. It had been a year after all. There was just so much to catch up on, and now that his Draceal was more powerful then before…who knows, he just might beat the old world champ.

Hillary was trotting down the back-roads of town. How was she supposed to know where to begin? It wasn't like everyone had a name tag that said 'hi, my name is…', and let's face it, trying to find a kid with a tail wasn't exactly as easy as she thought it might be. After all…how many kids have tails? But what got Hillary the most was that she felt like she was being followed by someone…and yet, when she turned around there was no one there.

"Hakaru! Hakaru Yamoto? Oh, what's the point? I don't even know the guy who sent me on this wild cat chase!" The hand that came down on her shoulder nearly made the girl shriek as she whipped around.

"Hiya. You looking for me?"

There in front of her was a girl handing upside-down on an old overhanging pipeline. Her blond hair looked messed up as she hung there. Her green eyes locked on the right-side-up burnet in front of her. Whiskers twitched as the blond stared and her white cat eats flicked side to side.

"H-Hakaru…you're Hakaru, right?" Hillary stammered.

"Yup. Hakaru Yamoto…why?"

"Some guy was looking for you. He said you were in danger." Truth be told the girl looked just fine. Until she tried to swing down from the pipe and landed on her face in the pavement.

"Are you okay? I thought cats always land on their feet."

"Oh, shut up." Hakaru pouted. She was just a bit shorter then Hillary and with the pout on her face she reminded Hillary of a small child.

"So…who's this guy who's looking for me? Did he have red hair and a ponytail?" Maybe Yusuki had come over to Japan.

"No. His hair was blue, not red." The burnet corrected.

"Kai."

"Kai? You mean the guy that Tyson always goes on about? The kid with the temper?"

"That would be Kai." Hakaru nodded.

"And that would make you Hakaru Yamoto…the blond who started the brawl in Russia." Dunga stepped into the alleyway.

"That would be me. Who wants to know?"

"I'm Dunga of the Saint Shields."

"I suppose that's a beyblading team?" Hakaru asked frankly.

"Right. My teammates and I have been going around defeating the Blade Breakers. So far every last one has crumbled under our power."

"That right? How about you and me have a match and we'll just see how good you really are." Hakaru whipped out her launcher and beyblade.

"Huh, I'm not interested in you; shorty…I got better things to do." Dunga scoffed and turned to leave.

"So you're a coward? If you're so good, then what are you afraid of? I'm Hakaru Yamoto from the Dragon Slayers, and I'm challenging you to a match."

The boy turned on his heals. "Do you ever shut up? I don't need to answer to you, got that? And I'm no coward!"

"Really?"

"That does it. You're on. But don't you dare cry when your blade is in peaces."

"Relax…I've got no intentions of wasting my blade on you."

"Do we really have to have a beyblade match now?" Hillary moaned a little.

Dunga and Hakaru: YES!

Hillary: Okay, okay…sorry.

"3…2…1…LET IT RIP!"

"This is going to be good." Hakaru smirked.

"Why?" Hillary dared to ask.

"Nether of us know a thing about one another's blades. That means it's like show and tell thing. Nether of us have the upper hand."

"Quit talking to you friend over there and start playing!" Dunga was getting a little hot under the collar.

"Fine with me, what do you think, Driger?" The blue light shot out of the blade and the white tiger sunk its claws into Dunga's red beyblade. Hillary couldn't see anything. To her, there was no tiger, no slashing of claws, no beast. The roar of the big cat, to her, was just a huge gust of wind that ripped through the alley.

"What is this? How do you have the spirit of the White Tiger?! That beast belongs only to Rei!"

"Wrong. There are many species of tiger, if you've noticed; this White Tiger is bigger because it's a different breed of tiger then Rei's." Hakaru shouted.

Dunga looked up. It was true…this tiger seemed to be larger then Rei's. But was that the only difference?

"What about element?" Dunga asked.

"Huh?"

"Every beast functions under a certain element or one of its sub-elements. Wind, Water, Fire and Earth are the four main elements, from there the sub-elements branch off. Ice, lightning, wood and sand are all sub-elements. Of course there are more, but that's just to name a few. What element do you have?"

"Wow he's actually smart." Hakaru said with a shocked look plastered on her face.

"Who would've guessed?" Hillary mumbled.

"ANSWER THE QUESTION!"

"So, he wants to know what makes you tick, Driger, what's say we show em? TIGER CLAWS ATTACK!" A brisk wind picked up and whipped through the alleyway. Aluminum cans tumbled across the ground as the breeze became stronger. A loose beer bottle flew through the air and shattered as it hit a dumpster.

"Oh, very impressive. So you're element is wind then? I guess it's not that great if you can just make trash fly around." The boy laughed at his little joke.

"You know, a beer bottle's pretty heavy. And your beyblade probably weighs less then that bottle back there."

Dunga looked down as the wind was solidifying into the tiger's claws and slashing his red top to ribbons. As it was, the wind was offsetting the spin rotation and causing his blade to wobble as it tried to regain control.

"Not too shabby. VEXAPE! ATTACK, SPARK HAMMER!"

Now a red light shot out into the alley. The big ape Shot its fists into the ground and shook the cement below it. Hillary never even saw the ape.

"What is this? Who do you guys keep talking to?" She shouted out of pure frustration.

"Can't you see we're busy?" Dunga snapped.

"You can't see them?" Hakaru tilted her head to one side in confusion.

"See who?"

"Hey! Have you forgotten? We got a match going on here!" Dunga growled.

"Driger, teach this overgrown ape some manners, TIGER CLAWS ATTACK!"

Walking down the street Max felt better being away from the crowds in the airport. There was no one jostling him through the swarm of other passengers, no noise of people talking, no tourists and most importantly no crowd. It was good to be back in Japan. As he walked down the street, a glass bottle whipped past his face from the alleyway in front of him.

"That was too close. What's going on down there?" There was a part of him that said to turn back, but Max decided to ignore it for now. Running down the passageway, Max found it hard to balance with the fierce wind whipping into his face.

"Vexape! Attack!"

A beyblade match! Max loaded up his blade just as the wind began to die down. Soon, there was nothing but a light breeze.

"Someone must've won the fight already." It was a lot easier to run now that there was now wind pushing him backward.

As he got closer he could see Dunga and…Hakaru?

"Hakaru!"

The girl looked up and looked a little shocked.

"Max?"

"Hakaru, what happened?"

"She lost, that's what happened." Dunga said as he turned to leave. The blonde slumped to her knees and picked up her beyblade.

"Who was that guy?" Max said as he walked over to the neko-jin.

"His name is Dunga. He's from a team called the Saint Shields, whoever they are." Hakaru muttered as she got up.

"So…you're Max of the Blade Breakers?" Hillary asked.

"Yeah. Who's she?" He asked looking at Hakaru.

"No idea."

Hillary: 

"My name is Hillary and I'm in Tyson's class! He talks about you all the time." She said to Max.

"Aren't you supposed to be in America?" Hakaru ignored the brunette.

"No. I cam here for the World Series." Max smiled.

"Great. My teammates and Yusuki are coming too. We're competing as well!"

"So this will be your first time in the BBA tournament?"

"This one, yes. We've gone through mini tournaments but never in the big league. Calvin's a little uptight. He wants us all to do our best. Our Dragon Slayers name is gonna shake the world." Hakaru said proudly.

"Too bad you lost to that guy." Hillary was fed up with being ignored.

"SHUT UP! I told you it was a blind match!"

"You still lost." Hillary muttered.

"I'm going over to Tyson's house. I'll see you all later, kay?" Max sighed and walked out of the alley.

"Bye."

"So…now we have to find this Kai person again. What a drag. You'd think he'd come with me or something." Hillary ranted.

"Kai's like that sometimes. He's a little reckless cause he grew up on his own."

"Man, he's so lucky. Kids with no parents always wind up so irresponsible. They never once get scolded for anything so they think they can run around without any rules like the rest of the world. I wish I could be that free."

"Do you?" Hakaru had her back to Hillary to hide he anger.

"Sure! Kids like him don't have to worry about anything."

"But…wouldn't they be lonely?"

"Maybe. Look let's just find Kai okay."

"Do what you want. I'll find him on my own." With that Hakaru ran off leaving Hillary alone in the alley.


	11. When you Can't See Me

Chapter 11: When you can't See Me

"Man, what was that kid's problem? Why'd she leave me alone to find Kai?" Hillary muttered to herself under her breath not realizing she had offended Hakaru.

"Do what you want. I'll find him on my own."

That's what she had said just before leaving. Hillary walked around trying to find Kai. She had a few ideas as of where to look for him, but if none of them worked out she was going to quit right then and there!

Tyler was in charge of the training regiment that day. Yusuki had to go to morning classes, but something told Hiro Tyler that the redhead would be back before the class was suppose to end.

"Tyler…can I stop running now?" Cail panted as he stumbled into the clearing of the woods.

"Nope. Fifteen more laps."

"But Calvin's already done and he did the same number of laps as me."

"He must be faster then you. What would you expect from our team caption?"

Groaning, Cail forced himself into a trot and went on with the laps.

"Does he really have fifteen more laps? I'm sure I counted for him. He did forty just like me. Must've been way off." Calvin, who had just walked into the clearing, mused over his teammate's time.

"No, you counted right. I told him that on purpose."

Calvin: how many has he really done?

Tyler: uu coming up on sixty.

Calvin: O.o

Cail: I KNEW IT! HIRO-SAN! YOU'RE SO MEAN, TAKING ADVANTAGE OF PEOPLE WHO CAN'T COUNT!

Tyler: Oh screw off. It was your fault for being so gullible.

Cail proceeded to beat on Tyler and the two started arguing.

"What'd I miss?" Yusuki walked into the clearing and watched the brawl.

"Nothing special." Calvin muttered.

Yusuki: Same old, same old?

Calvin: Yup.

"You gonna stop em?" Yusuki asked.

"Nope." Calvin walked off and left the redhead to watch the fight between Cail and Tyler.

Tyson was practicing out in the yard when Max arrived at his house.

"Hi, Tyson!"

"Max!" The Blade Breaker trotted over to great his teammate.

"It's been a long time." Max grinned and showed his brand new blade to Tyson.

"That's great! Now you'll be ready for the World Series!"

"By the way, on the way here I met up with Hakaru and this other kid…I think her name was Hillary."

"WHAT? What is SHE doing with Hakaru? They don't even know each other!" Tyson yelped.

"Hakaru didn't know her ether." Max confirmed.

"I thought Hakaru was in China." Tyson groaned. Just what he needed…a hyper, dense, blonde cat. Oh well.

Hakaru raced through back alleys and through the crowds of bustling streets. She was quick on her feet, but Kai was fast too and without any sense of where he might be, she may as well have been looking for a needle in a haystack. She was still really mad at Hillary for what she said though and there was no way she was going to be able to stop thinking about those words until something else distracted her.

"One thing that keeps bugging me is that Hillary couldn't see Driger or Vexape." Hakaru muttered to herself and pulled out her blade. "That Dunga creep was strong. But next time we meet we're gonna flatten him, right, Driger?" The white tiger bit shone and the search for Kai continued.

RJ walked around the downtown streets and into the subway. There were often underground gangs who bladed for fun in the underground.

A group of six boys were having a free-for-all match when the redhead walked over. The kids weren't bad, but nothing to write home about. No…definitely no competition here. She'd just have to wait until the boys and girls went home and the REAL matches started.

Hakaru, who had been to Japan a few times before knew well about the underground subways and how Cail, Tyler and Calvin had used them as training grounds. Calvin had kept her informed of their gang's activity in Japan while she and Yusuki were in China. Now that she couldn't find Kai, and she was in the aria, it would be a good idea to check out Dragon Slayer's turf and see how things were in the underground. Walking down the steps into the dim, dingy subway, the blonde sniffed as the smell of the public station hit her first.

Just as she began to look around for someone to play, a little boy tugged at her shirt.

"You're a beyblader, right?"

"Yeah." Hakaru shrugged.

"Me and some guys are having a free-for-all, wanna play?"

"Sure."

The boy led her over to a shallow dish surrounded by kids of varying ages.

"We got another player, let's start now kay, Satoshi?"

The oldest boy looked up at Hakaru. He was just a bit shorter then she was and probably only two years younger.

"What? That kid doesn't look like she's got much in her." The boy sneered.

Hakaru: Grrrrr.

"Come on, Satoshi, don't be picky. Let's just start." Another boy yelled.

"Fine, fine. Everyone okay with putting parts on the line for this one?"

"Yeah!" Everyone shouted.

"Right, the winner gets one beyblade part from everyone else."

Hakaru shrugged. This was how she'd gotten most of her spare parts to begin with, so it was nothing new. Unknown to her, RJ was standing not too far off watching silently.

Great...what's the dumb blonde doing down here. This is no place for strays off the street. She thought to herself.

"3…2…1…LET IT RIP!"

Beyblades of every color went flying into the shallow dish and two were knocked out right from the get-go.

"Inori and Sai are out! Someone shouted as the two boys picked up their blades.

Hakaru's blade started spinning around the dish faster and faster. The blades in Driger's way were slammed out of the dish and onto the grimy tiled floor of the subway for their owners to collect. This left only Satoshi's blade and hers in the dish.

"Guess I was wrong about you, huh? You got spunk. But this is where the fight ends!"

The black beyblade went on the offensive and sped toward Hakaru's white blade. Without breaking a sweat, she dodged the attack and rammed Satoshi's blade into the wall causing it to stop spinning.

"That would make me the winner. And I only want parts from you, kid." Hakaru grinned at Satoshi.

The boy looked angrily at her and then shoved his hands into his pockets to pull out the spare parts for Hakaru to choose from.

"I'll take this one." The blond took a nice-looking attack ring and pocketed it. "Thanks for the match." She said as she turned to leave.

"HEY! Not so fast! You and me, one more match." The boy snapped.

"No thanks. I need to find someone." Hakaru said.

"This won't take long. I underestimated you before, but I won't make the same mistake again."

"That was your downfall last game. You thought I was just some bum off the street that didn't know how to blade. But you were wrong, and that cost you the game. What difference would one game make? You'll just wind up loosing more parts."

"This time I'll beat you! I'm not going to let you leave until you face me."

"Stubborn little brat." RJ muttered from where she watched.

"Fine. Whatever you want."

"Three parts for the winner."

"You sure?" Hakaru asked.

"Yes!" Satoshi snarled.

"Fine. But it's your funeral." The blonde sighed.

"3…2…1…LET IT RIP!"

Hakaru's blade circled the dish at break-neck speed leaving Satoshi to spin in the center.

"What are you trying to do? Mock me? That same trick won't work twice on me! Attack!" The black beyblade went in for the kill, but couldn't keep up with the opposing blade. Hakaru was just too fast.

"ATTACK!" The white blade whipped around and started hammering the black blade into the ground.

"No way! Satoshi's loosing again!" One kid squealed.

"Naw, he's got a plan." An older boy snapped.

"Come on, push her back!" The black blade managed to push Hakaru's blade off and went on the offensive. There was no time to dodge the attacks that rattled her blade, the only option was to defend; something Hakaru was bad at.

"Look, I'm sorry about this, but I really can't stay…there's stuff I gotta get done. Driger, attack." The black beyblade was slashing in half in seconds.

Satoshi handed over his spare parts to Hakaru and she turned to leave.

"Nice. Wanna have a game?"

Turning, Hakaru saw a group of three boys.

"Not really. I gotta go." She sighed.

"Yeah right. Do you really think these brats satisfied your beast? You must be joking."

"So, you could tell my blade had a bit beast."

"You called to it didn't you? Something you shouldn't have to have done against these kids."

That was true. Driger's battle appetite was nowhere near appeased.

"I could give you a real fight." The black-haired boy offered as he held up his blade. There was a picture of a rat on the bit-chip and Hakaru knew it was a bit beast. Looking down at her blade in her hand she knew that Driger would most likely be itching to fight the boy. Kai would have to wait.

"Fine. One match, but that's it." She sighed and loaded her launcher.

"I think I know you from somewhere." One of the boy's in the small group of newcomers said.

"Hakaru Yamoto of the Dragon Slayers."

"You started that fight! It was you! I knew it!"

Hakaru: --U that would be me.

"I'm Mitsuro Hito of the Underground." The boy challenging her said proudly.

RJ rolled her eyes off in the background. This was getting tedious. There was no way anybody could take those two seriously, was there?

"3…2…1…LET IT RIP!"

The two blades slammed into the shallow dish and circled one another hesitantly.

"Attack her, Warat!" A shaggy, gray rat burst out of the blade and squeaked. Its claws had mettle tips and so did the whiskers. The tail was made of metal like Driger's, but longer. There were five earrings in both tattered ears of the water rat. "Stench of claws ATTACK!"

The gray beyblade bashed into Hakaru's off white blade and rammed it hard into the side of the dish.

"DRIGER, TIGER CLAWS ATTACK!" The white tiger leaped out of the blade and slashed the gray top to the side like a ball of yarn.

"A-a tiger!" One boy stammered.

"Duh, dumbass, I told you she had a beast like I did." Hito snapped.

"I've never seen a rat bit beast before." Hakaru stared dumbly at the beats above her.

"Stop gawking like a dumb ape and fight!" Hito snarled.

Hakaru: It's a rat…a rat! That's funny.

Hito: You stupid punk, don't make fun of my beast!

"Fine then, Tiger claws attack!"

Hillary walked down the to subway. This Kai person sure looked like a punk who would hang out in the subway or an alley and what did she really know about this guy? Walking down the big steps to the underground subway. A sharp wind rushed into her lungs and tugged at her person, it was such a harsh wind the girl had to stop and catch her breath before trotting down the steps to find the source.

"Warat! Defend!" Hito shouted.

"Go for it, Driger!" Hakaru yelled.

Who do they keep yelling at? Hillary mused.

"Hey, what're you doing here?" Hakaru had noticed her.

"I…I just was looking for Kai…"

"Well piss off! I gotta match going on here." Hakaru turned away from the burnet.

Hillary: 

"ATTACK, DRIGER!"

"WHO DO YOU KEEP TALKING TO?!" Hillary shouted.

"SHUT UP! We got a game here! Besides, just cause you can't see bit beasts doesn't mean all of us can't!" Hito snapped.

They can see these bit beast thingies? Hillary was taken back. Why couldn't she see them too? IT WASN'T FAIR!

"I'll give you a hint, the blonde's got a white tiger and the boy over there has a gray rat." A kid off to the left whispered.

"Where?" Hillary asked.

"Up above us. See? The white tiger's to the left of us…oh, no, just leapt to the right. The rat…is right…over there to the far left." The boy pointed out where the beasts where. Hillary tried to follow, but she still couldn't see the beasts.

"DRIGER!"

"WARAT!"

The two blades went on the offensive and attacked head on. For a second, Hillary could see a flash of white fur charging at a gray fuzzy rodent. Hito's blade went flying out of the dish and smashed into the ground.

"Hakaru wins." On kid muttered.

"Nice." Hito picked up his blade and he and his team walked away.

"Bye, I guess." Hakaru sighed and nabbed her blade.

"I saw them…just for a second. You-you had a tiger."

"Duh." Hakaru said and walked out of the subway.

RJ rolled her eyes and decided to take her own leave. There was no point in sticking around. Curious that the one girl couldn't see the so obvious beasts that had be right in front of them seconds ago. She'd have to look into this.


	12. Locked up tight

Chapter 12: Locked up Tight

Bit beasts. What were these things that she couldn't see? These Bit beasts…. Hakaru had one, Tyson had one, Max had one…everyone seemed to have a beast living in his or her blade.

"Hey." Turning, Hillary saw RJ standing behind her. "Don't tell me you can't see bit beasts."

"Arg! Not you too!" Hillary sighed. How many people were gonna bug her about this?

"Good to know." RJ said and walked off.

Tyson sighed. He and Max had been training for a while now and still none of the other Blade Breakers had come around. On the other hand…without Kai things were far more upbeat.

"Wonder when Rei and Kai are coming. You know about the tournament, right?"

"T-tournament! NO ONE TELLS ME THESE THINGS!" Tyson moaned pitifully.

Max snickered as the other boy groaned on. "Relax. It's not for a while. And besides…I've heard that there's gonna be teams from around the globe. But it is also gonna be a two-person team."

"Say wha?" Tyson turned to look at Max.

"Yeah. There are gonna be two people to a team. So it could be me and you, or me and Rei or Kai and I playing on a team." Max explained.

"That's crap! So the Blade Breakers are gonna be split down the middle." Tyson sighed.

"Not really. We'll still be allowed to fight under the Blade Breaker title, just with fewer members in a group. No big deal."

Tyson wondered if any other teams he knew of were going to try and enter the tournament. They'd probably meet tonnes of new kids, and that thrilled him.

Sweat lined the foreheads of the Dragon Slayers as Yoah put them into the most rigorous training program he could come up with. Rocks were tied to the legs of the boys and they had to run….fast.

"Move it! I want to see sweat!" This was more or less a punishment for Yusuki treating him like an underling. As it was, the newest Dragon Slayer was plotting new ways to get back at his new teacher.

"Faster, Hiro-san. You gotta keep pace."

"We've been doing this for hours." Cail groaned.

"Only one hour to be honest." Calvin said with distaste.

"Okay, you can stop running now!"

Everyone untied the rocks from their legs and sat down.

"Five minute break and then you're running up and down the hills. That aught to do it for two more hours." Yoah smiled.

"I'm gonna kill him." Tyler whispered.

"I'll help." Calvin muttered.

Kai walked down the street. He was going…oh hell, when had he ever known where he was going? Hakaru was wandering the streets with these maniacs on the loose, RJ wandering the streets with…well she could probably take out any one of the psychopaths anyhow –if anything she's be more of a threat then the regular nuts, a new tournament three weeks away, and with his Blade Breaker team scattered…things just go far too complicated.

"Kai."

The blue-haired teen went toppling head over heals as he was caught so off guard by the blond who had just crashed into him.

Damn you for an idiot, Hakaru you twit. He thought.

"Can't you ever watch where you're running, you klutz?" Kai sat up and rubbed his skull.

"Sorry, I wasn't listening. Did you say something?" She said turning back to face the boy.

"You're impossible." Kai stood up and dusted himself off and grabbed the blond by the wrist.

"Where are we going?" She asked dumbly as he led her toward the old abandoned building Kai had been using as a place to crash when he was in school. It took them half an hour to walk there from where they were, but, fortunately, Kai knew the way. Walking up the rickety old fire escape, he opened the door and shoved Hakaru in.

"You're gonna stay here for a while until the danger blows over. There are some crazy psychopaths wandering around taking people's bit beasts." Slamming the door tight, Kai proceeded to lock Hakaru in.

"Kai!" The blond slammed against the door, rattling metal hinges. "What the hell are you doing? Let me out, damn you!"

"No. Not until I get rid of the creeps who're taking the bit beasts from kids. I promised to help keep your grandfather's Driger safe. So be good and stay here." With that, Kai walked down the stairs and onto the main road. This was for the best. If they couldn't find her they couldn't take her Driger. Kai just hoped that she would go any crazier then she already was up there. Mind you….Yusuki would most likely kill him for this.

"Hey, Tyson!" Hilary walked, with the Chief, over to where Max and Tyson were training in the park.

"Oh, hey. I remember you. You're the girl from this morning." Max grinned.

"Yeah. Good to see you again…it's Max, right?"

"Yup." The boy grinned.

"So, what do you want?" Tyson asked rudely.

"As it so happens, I ran into Kenny on my way home and he invited me to come with him to see you." Tyson sent a cold glare to the Chief.

"Oh…it's you." A voice sent Hillary and Kenny turning around to see who had interrupted the gathering. Tyson and Max didn't have to; they already were facing that way and could see clearly who it was.

"RJ!" Max smiled. Tyson winced, preparing to be hit.

"I know you! You're the guy from the subway!" Hillary smiled.

"Just because you saw me don't mean you know me." RJ said snidely. Hillary was gonna be a thorn in her side, she just knew it.

"A guy? Um, Hillary, RJ's a…" Kenny was hit before he could finish. RJ didn't care whether or not she was seen as a guy or a girl. It really made no difference to her. Besides…this could prove humorous.

"Well…aren't you going to introduce yourself?" Hillary said coldly.

"Why would I wanna do that?" RJ asked bluntly.

"Because! A proper gentleman would!" The brunette shot back. One second later Hillary found herself on the ground.

"Don't talk to me about 'gentlemen', girly, it makes me sick." The redhead snapped.

"What kind of guy hits a girl?" Hillary shouted.

"Me?" RJ said and walked a few steps away before turning on her heel to say, "By the way, Monkey boy, I'm staying at your place, got it?" She laughed and walked away.

"Aw man. There goes the peace and quiet at my house." Tyson grumbled. Max patted him on the back

"Don't worry, man. You'll survive." He assured.


End file.
